Sean Connery's Jensen CV8 for sale

The spy movie star never bought an Aston Martin DB5, instead deciding on this green Jensen after filming 'You Only Live Twice'

Sean Connery is famous for driving many fast cars during his career, not least when he played the famous fictional spy James Bond. One of his personal automobiles is up for sale, and it’s not the one you would expect.

After making the Aston Martin DB5 the coolest car on the planet in ‘Goldfinger’ in 1964, you would’ve expected Connery to then buy a version of the car to keep up appearances. Three years later, after finishing filming ‘You Only Live Twice’, Connery’s eye was caught by a Jensen CV8 MkII grand tourer at the Charles Follett car showroom in London.

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The model itself was second hand, having previously been owned by News of the World chairman Clive Carr, and then returned to the Charles Follett dealer in a part-exchange. It was actually the first of the cars to be sold to a private customer, at Carr’s wish, and when returned to the showroom it didn’t take long for Connery to warm to its sleek shape and factory green finish, reportedly his favourite colour.

In May 1967, Connery became the second owner of the car, and drove it back to his Richmond home. He had it serviced by Charles Follett, and there is a rumour that on one occasion an accident in the car by Connery’s wife Diane Cilento prompted him to call up the showroom to take the car away so he could never see it again. He ended up keeping the car.

The CV8 became a film ‘star’ in 1967 in ‘The Bowler and the Bunnet’, a political drama directed by Connery himself. He starred in the film driving the car, but the final cut ended up never being broadcast, and has since earned an infamous status.

After a year, Connery sold the car - chassis number 104/2158 and registration number AUW 70B - to Alfred Levitt, one of the pilots in the Berlin Airlift. He then sold it to a friend, another owner with an interesting occupation as a top member of the Grange Grove Fruit Drinks Company, and then to Robert Rumball of Bedfordshire in 1970. When he emigrated to Australia the car changed owner again, a Jack J Jones from the neighbouring county of Hertfordshire. The car then went into storage until it was picked up by a member of a bodyworks company in the mid-1990s. He sold it to the Jensen Museum in 2014, and four years on the museum is now selling it on with an asking price of £135,000.

The green paintwork has been retained throughout, and the sale is accompanied by the similarly coloured logbook which contains Connery’s signature. Refurbishing work has taken place, especially since the car has been in the museum’s care, with the sales page on the museum’s website can be found here.